Month: May 2017

For anybody who is interested in real world self protection, it is helps to understand the difference between social violence and asocial violence, the motivation behind them and how to respond to them.

But first, what do they have in common?
The human predator is not unlike the animal predator; though motivation, environment and social circumstances may be very different. When the lions hunt, they don’t go out to look for a fight with the biggest, toughest most meaty (muscular) bull in the herd. They go out looking for the weak, the lame, the very young, the very old. Basically, they don’t want a fight, they want a kill. An easy kill! Continue reading “The Difference Between Social Violence And Asocial Violence” »

When I first started Karate, most people, especially our Oriental masters, would teach that the primary function of the Hiki-Te hand (the one that pulls back to the hip) was to increase the power of the other hand going out in a punch/strike/block. This is undoubtedly a useful training method for beginners as it helps to teach them to rotate their hips and as such this explanation was not questioned very much in the early days.

However, with the advent of Mixed Martial Arts/Cage Fighting and the Internet, such ideas have come under more and more scrutiny. Boxers, Kickboxers and other such stylists can generate powerful blows whilst still keeping the other high as a guard to the head. When experienced Karateka (and other traditional martial artists) start to experiment, they find that they can too. Hiki-Te is simply not necessary for generating power once good technique is established. Continue reading “A Forgotten Use Of Hiki-Te (Pulling Hand)” »

Training in traditional martial arts simultaneously trains you on several different levels. Not properly understanding this can lead to confusion and trying to apply a given technique in an inappropriate manner. So first of all, lets look at the different levels at which any technique actually trains you:

Some of the newer and more reality based martial arts which emphasise real self protection (as opposed to sport) such as Krav Maga and Systema argue that the strength of their system is that they emphasise principles of movement rather than techniques. They argue that most of the older Oriental martial arts by contrast put the emphasis the other way round, on techniques more than principles. They argue that this makes their arts better for learning self defence more quickly and effectively. Continue reading “Techniques As A “Shorthand” For Learning Principles” »